Canon City News

Forgiving Effie Beck is a heartwarming and well-told story. Amidst a panorama of human frailties and human strengths, the author, Karen Casey Fitzjerrell, brings the small town of Cooperville, Texas to life. Set during the Great Depression, one of the main characters, Mike Lemay, is employed as an interviewer by the Federal Writing Project and sent to Texas on assignment. On the surface, Cooperville runs as smoothly and efficiently as a ticking clock. Underneath, however, the inhabitants are plagued by secrets that are woven tightly into a shroud of "accepting things as the way they always have been." The story illustrates how humans cling to wavering truths, and how these truths can be cemented by town gossip and individual fears.

In the story, it takes the outsider, Mike Lemay, to nudge these truths out of hiding. When Effie, an elderly woman, goes missing, the mystery of her disappearance becomes the town's preoccupation. A search ensues and uneasiness settles in when no clues to her whereabouts turn up. Little by little, Effie's past is revealed through a cast of well-developed, true -to- life characters whose own lives are peeled back layer by layer for the reader. Some characters grow and demonstrate their capacity to overcome difficulties. Other characters remain frozen by their inability to confront their own weaknesses. For those characters willing to face change and cope with the complexities and challenges of life, a world of possibilities opens up.

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For others, suffering is inevitable.

Fitzjerrell doesn't shy away from the difficulties of life during the depression. Nor does she sugar coat the pitfalls in relationships when mistakes are made. Her characters are real people, with real desires, who make real mistakes. It is through the telling of the tale that the reader comes to both understand and care for them. Real living and breathing human beings occupy the pages of this book.

Forgiving Effie Beck holds both surprise and a few good, but predictable outcomes for readers. The journey is pleasant but sometimes heart breaking. The book sheds light on the best and the worst in people and leaves some unanswered questions as we glimpse into our own souls for clues to our past actions, our attitudes, and the things that keep us either chained in place or motivated to change.

Writer Karen Casey Fitzjerrell immerses the reader in this tale through truthful description and heart felt emotions. Life's struggles are not glossed over, but sprinkled with hope in the same way a dessert flower inhales a single raindrop. A snapshot of human nature within the context of a challenging time in our nation's history, Forgiving Effie Beck is definitely worth the read.

If you would like to submit a book review for possible publication, please email: lperi60@yahoo.com.

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